Last night Victor and I went to Nowhere Bookshop after everyone else was gone and I did a live video on instagram so that you could see the store and have a little browse and hundreds of you showed up and I felt like I was at a small, wonderful party for the first time in…5 months…6 months? What month is this?
It’s surreal that we’ve been open for so long but have never been able to let customers in or have a grand opening, but this makes me feel like you were here with me and I didn’t know how much I needed that. Thank you.
Anyway, it’s here in case you missed it and please ignore the unflattering thumbnail of me and the few times when it pauses for a few seconds because the internet connection went weird.
Almost everything on the video is on our website and there’s a special page of some of my favorite things that I highlighted right here for easy access.
Come browse with me!
This was quite fun so maybe we’ll do more but focused on specific areas in the shop? Any suggestions?
PS. My voice sounds awful but it’s just allergies. Sorry. I’m out of meds.
OMG, Jenny, that was so much fun! It was like being out of the house for a little while! Thank you so much for doing that. If you do it again, I’ll absolutely tune in.
I had a wonderful time watching you do this yesterday. You were great and I hope you do more!
Like other readers/followers have commented, I cannot wait to see Nowhere decorated for Halloween! And your voice sounds wonderful. I mean, we’re living in a pandemic… we can only talk to the walls and inanimate objects so much but our voices aren’t used as much.
AUGH! THERE YOU ARE! TECHNOLOGY!! . And I read Goldfinch but SECRET HISTORY is still better. My favorite. AND YES YOUNG ADULT BOOKS ARE FOR ALL OF US. Thanks for all the suggestions.
I can’t wait for the little seats… more reading nooks. 😻 LOVE THAT RED CHAIR! More… writing on the wall…? LOVE THE MOUSE READING MICE AND MEN IN ITS DOORWAY! More of that, I hope!!!
I really appreciated this video! I’ve been feeling so low this week, this lifted my spirits. Shamelessly, I’m inserting my blog about feeling like an alien:
https://epileptaste.wordpress.com/2020/08/05/3369/
Jenny, Nowhere Bookshop is on my bucket travel list. <3
I’ve been noticing lately that a lot of my everyday anxieties have been slowing growing into full-fledged phobias, and the other day I was wondering if I’d even be able to leave the house once this is over. I think my desire to visit Nowhere Bookshop and a few other places on my bucket list (which is entirely made up of bookshops) is the only thing that’s going to motivate me to rejoin humanity. Thanks for the tour!
When we can travel again, we’re coming to your shop. It’ll be so wonderful. Even though I’ll have to rent a uhaul to bring all my purchases back home in. 🙂
Wow! This is so exciting. Full of welcoming charm, ambiance, and words! Words and books and books and words. LOVE!
Love love love! I was at the test session yesterday, but I’m going to go back and watch the actual bookshop tour tonight! I’m so happy for you it hurts.
That was great. I can’t wait to see it in person some day when the plague is over.
Dear Jenny,
Been a fan for … some years.
Read Your book.
The one with the rat on the cover.
Made my Brit GF read it too.
I am Native Texas.
Born in Ladonia
(Google it)
Been a subscriber to your blog since before Moses was a pup…
Watched some of your YouTube interviews…
Moving on…
The reason I’m writing…
Well, because writing is the only thing that makes me happy.
The reason I am writing to YOU…
I just wanted to thank you for Being such a wonderful Texan.
I guess that is all I wanted to say.
Say ‘Hidy’ to Victor for me.
Cheers,
Lance
https://texantales.com/
Can I come live in Nowhere? It’s just a little bit of heaven.
Your bookstore is absolutely magical! The floors are gorgeous, the shelves blend perfectly, the wall paintings and art, the reading nooks, and the book selections. Owning a bookstore has always been my dream and I get to experience a taste of that through you. Congratulation!
AMAZING. I can’t wait to go someday.
Love this! Can’t wait to visit. (I love The Secret History, too!)
This isn’t fair. You’re living my dream. Thank goddess I like you or I’d be big mad about it.
You have the dearest face and lovely demeanor! <3
That was awesome!! Only problem is I now have a list of 30 books I want to read :). Please make it a regular thing!
You have a book club, but for them ideas may be you could do Author of the month, or genre of the month or even books with a red cover this month and ones with an orange cover next… Best gourmet group I ever belonged to did a dinner one month where everything had to have something ‘orange’ in it…the color not necessarily the fruit. I baked a stew in a pumpkin, lol.
I still need to finish looking at the video but loving it so far. Thank you for that!!!
I’m a bad librarian because I just haven’t had the brain space to read.
Now I want to read again.
Oh, and I saw the book that I’m an evangelist for: The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell
So hoping to come visit that lovely bookstore one day soon. In the meantime it makes me madly happy to know it exists in the world. And thanks for introducing me to libro.fm! Will be getting all my audio books that way from now on via your store <3
I love your shop and am so glad I got to see it “in person”
Darcy #22,
Me too! First described to me as, “Jesuits in space,” by my dear friend, Jane, I still consider hers to be the definitive description of The Sparrow.
Briefest of synopses: We may do things with the best of intentions, but if we don’t understand the culture we meddle in, we will inevitably cause irreparable harm.
Sorry. Got a bit carried away…
What an amazing place! I love the floor, the books, the book swag, so much I want to buy but being in the UK makes it tricky as overseas shipping can be huge!
Thank youThankyouThankyou for the guided tour of your lovely bookstore and musings about books. I too, have many “to be read” books in piles and heaps, and books that everybody else loved, but I just…couldn’t. I also am usually not fond of the typical bookstore bestseller list sections, because when I worked in a B&N the same books stayed on those lists for years and years, like “What To Expect When You’re Expecting” which, while I’m sure it is a bestseller, it’s like having the Bible on that list, of course it’s a bestseller, but, DUH!!! My favorite section in a bookstore is the booksellers recommended section. I want to see what the people who LOVE books and are OBSESSED with books are reading. I hope besides your favorite books section you’ll set up a customers recommended section where all the Nowhere and strangelings readers can recommend books, and as long as enough of us pick the same title, it gets displayed for a week or so. I would love to see your shop dressed up for holidays, and a holiday theme window to celebrate the day. Much luck and best wishes for the continued success of your socially distanced bookshop. I can’t wait until this crazy time is over so we can visit it if we are able to, and see photos of your customers shopping if we can’t visit in person.
Thank you so much. A bit of sanity in our strange new and terrifying world.
I just finished viewing the bookstore and it IS AWESOME!!! Thank you very much for that.
You gave me some good ideas for my neighbors children,,,,,,,,Whoop!
Jenny: Two authors to consider: first, Bill Bryson. I was shocked that some friends didn’t know about him…he is so fricken smart and funny, writing nonfiction about Australia, England, his boyhood in Iowa, the English language…not to be missed. Second: I just discovered Richard Price…there are almost no words to describe how great a writer he is. I just read Freedomland, 700 unputdownable pages of unforgettable characters, nimble perspectives, searing commentary…every dialogue is a gem, every page holds wonders. The brain on this guy. And he’s funny, too. I immediately added all his other books to my (not very long) bucket list. Please check him out, there’s no one like him. (Normally a book that long gets to feeling like a drag to me, but this one is perfectly paced and constructed and compelling to the end.)
Hey Jenny, I saw you had The Snow Child on one of the shelves, if you haven’t read that one, I highly recommend it and for anyone else in the comments. It reads like a fairy tale and it’s stayed with me long after I finished reading it.
I loved the virtual visit (did not like The Goldfinch at all – I was genuinely confused about what anyone saw in it) and cannot wait to be able to safely visit SA to 1. see my sister and nieces, 2. eat a lot of queso, and 3. visit your shop.
I added so many books to my “to read” list. Thank you so much!
I loved this! Great to hear your voice, see your beautiful face and explore Nowhere!
On a side note, I saw this incredible, recently discovered, National Geographic taxidermy piece that you MUST see! How can I send you the picture?
I am so looking forward to when I can travel back to San Antonio and pick up some great doughnuts and visit Nowhere!!!!!
Go Texas Women!!!
Live readings and book groups!
Cannot wait to visit!! Yay!
awesome guys